Times of War
by ochita127
Summary: AU, Mai Hime x Negima/The telling of the second world war. Desperate,Japan considered the option of letting women fight. Thus,the Golden Seven were formed. Now,they have to face the upcoming battles. Not only in war but also in... love./ SN HY MM CA KS
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer (For the entire story): I do not own Mai Hime nor Mahou Sensei Negima. Please forgive me if there would be racial discrimination and violence happening for the later parts of this story. The plot is not totally mine for I'm trying to base it from history. I believe that is all, if not, I will follow up some more notes.

Chapter I – Turmoil in the Corner

_It was the start December of 1941, two years after the Second World War started. The new Prime Minister Tojo Hideki just refused a peace feeler from the US government and Japan's fleet continued to move towards Pearl Harbor and South East Asia. Bombings, attacks, deaths and many other more were happening all around the world. Things were definitely not going good. _

_Ten months earlier._

It was another normal day for the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army in the base located in Tokyo, Japan. The soldiers were either walking around the halls or training in the fields. Over tens of thousands of soldiers are trained everyday as a reserve for the war.

Contrary to the popular belief, some women were allowed to become soldiers of war. The lack of soldiers had raised the need to use other human resources. So far, the army had only recruited 7 worthy female soldiers. The Golden Seven. They were handpicked by the Prime Minister himself.

One of them was Natsuki Kruger.

At the age of eighteen she was already a ranking officer in the army. Orphaned at the age of fifteen, she started to train under the army's supervision when she was sixteen years old. Her father died during the start of the war, he was a soldier. He was sent to China and left Natsuki under the care of his friend, Yamada. Yamada was a soldier too and she was left in the care of his wife. Soon after, they found out that her father died. This made a great impact on Natsuki for her only living parent joined the other one as well. Her mother died giving birth to her. Rage built inside Natsuki as she forced Yamada to teach her how to fire a gun. A year later, her skills were recognized by the government and she, as well as six other girls, was enlisted in the military. Another year later, she gained the rank of Captain and had a platoon of her own.

Natsuki recently became part of the 16th division of the Imperial Japanese Army. She was just a reserve just as everyone else in the base. It changed when the 16th division came to battle in the second Sino-Japanese war in Nanjing, Xuzhou, and Wuhan which ended in October of 1938. Even though they had successfully suppressed the up rise of the Chinese they did lose several men. They returned to Japan to recuperate. Also, they used this time to recruit more soldiers into their division and thus, more than 2 years later, when the famous 7 had finished their training, they were enlisted in the said division.

"Natsuki, are you coming?" asked an orange haired girl.

She was Mai Tokiha, a fellow soldier of the aforementioned. She was the same age as the blunette. She was a cook from a small ramen stand before she entered the army. Some group of thugs ate in her stand and refused to pay. She forced them to with the help of her everyday customer Mikoto Minagi. She did manage to make them pay but after the fight her stand was totally ruined. It was her only way of income and she didn't have any relatives. Lucky for her, a high ranking military was passing by that day and saw them. He was amazed by their actions and knowing that the prime minister was giving an opportunity for women to be in the army he took the chance to convince them to join.

"I'm hungry Mai," her companion complained.

"Yeah, let's go, I guess Setsuna and Konoka could just follow," said Natsuki as she walked towards the two and they made their way to the canteen for breakfast.

The Setsuna that Natsuki mentioned was Setsuna Sakurazaki. She was also an orphan. Her father was a Colonel in the army and died because of a sickness. Her mother didn't take the death of her father and fell sick and died months later. She was depressed but she knew she had to move on. Her father's best friend Eishun Konoe took her in his charge. She met the General's daughter Konoka, and they became best of friends. They were inseparable. And when she knew that the other girl was to be a nurse in the military, the moment that Eishun spoke to her about joining the military as a soldier she accepted.

"I tell you Natsuki, she's head over heels for that nurse," Mai said as they walked.

"They're just best friends Mai, she told me herself," the blunette tried to defend her friend.

"Well, you're also her other best friend, why doesn't she spend that much time with you?" Mai countered.

"She's known her longer," Natsuki said. "Besides, who're we to interfere with their lives? If she likes her, then it's up to her."

"You're right, but it's just too obvious, she should just confront her feelings head on," Mai commented glancing to her other side where Mikoto was happily walking listening in on their conversation. "How 'bout you Natsuki? Ever giving a chance in love?"

"You know that I don't have time for that," came the fast reply.

"Why not? Many guys seem to be interested in you."

"They're a bunch of jerks."

"I'm sure not all of them!"

"Yeah? Tell me one that _seemed_ not."

"Well, the guy with spiking hair, I think his name's Takeru or something."

"Takeda."

"Yeah! Him! He seems to be nice."

"He's a pervert Mai, he likes peeking into girls stuff."

"W-well, there are other guys there."

"I'm not interested Mai, I already told you a thousand times."

----------

"Hey pup! Mai, Mikoto," a red head greeted as they approached their usual table in the canteen.

"Hey," they greeted back placing their food in the table.

"So where's Setsuna? Thought she's with you guys," asked the red head.

"You know where she is Nao," Natsuki said. "How 'bout the others?"

"They'll be here."

And on cue some of them arrived.

"Damn that bubuzuke woman," Haruka said as she sat down followed by Yukino.

"Hey, hey, what's up? Why so grumpy early in the morning?" Nao asked.

"Well, this new nurse arrived today and all the soldiers have been fanning on her and she's loving the attention," Haruka tried to explain. "Not to mention she likes tea a _lot_."

"Fanning? Tea?" Mai questionned.

"Fawning," corrected Yukino. "Shizuru tried to flirt with Haruka and, well, she didn't like it."

"She flirts with every soldier she meets," Haruka added. "Even other nurses!"

"Shizuru?" this time Natsuki asked.

"Yeah, the new nurse, Shizuru Viola."

Then another person arrived.

"What're you guys talking about?" the woman with short boyish hair asked.

"The new nurse, Shizuru Viola," Nao said.

"Have you seen her?" the newcomer asked. Only Haruka and Yukino nodded while the others shook their heads. "Well you should see her. She's H-O-T!"

"Chie you always think that the female nurses are hot." Natsuki said.

"Well, this one's different, this one's _really _hot." Chie said.

"Don't you already have Aoi?" Mai asked.

"Don't mention it to her that I think Shizuru is really hot."

"Ara, I'm hot?" A new voice interrupted the people from their conversation.

"Yeah, you think she's hot?" Another voice said laced with jealousy. "I can't believe you Chie."

"Aoi!" The said woman was now fleeing from the canteen followed by the one who called her.

Everyone was looking at the two who fled the scene.

"Ara." The voice snapped them out of their stares.

"Ah, Oh! Hi guys, sorry for being late, we met someone new today, um, this is Shizuru, and well, she's new here," Konoka explained as everybody turned their attention towards the newcomer. Setsuna was behind her with a frown.

"Nice to meet you, and as Konoka-chan said, my name is Shizuru Viola," introduced the tawny haired woman.

'_She's hot_.' Everyone else agreed.

Mai noticed the change in Natsuki's attention. '_I guess this is the reason why she doesn't have any interest in guys.'_

_---_

_A/N: This is my first attempt at a Shiznat fanfiction. Please bear with me. I hope to update as soon as I can but I doubt that I can update weekly,so monthly is more probable for me. This is unBeta'd so if there are any mistakes, it is all mine for not proofreading it extensively._

_Hope to hear from you,_

_-127_


	2. Chapter 2

An early christmas gift to everyone.. Happy Holidays! I'd probably be updating before the year ends. Hope you enjoy the chapter~.

**Chapter II – Warnings of Time**

During breakfast they got to know Shizuru better. They found out that both her parents were doctors. Her father was in the military while her mother worked in a hospital in Kyoto. She also plans on continuing her studies to become a doctor like her parents.

Natsuki, who was usually not mindful, listened in attentively as Shizuru talked. She was curious about the other woman. '_I wonder if she's still single. Considering her looks, I doubt it.'_ She shook her head as she tried to dismiss the thought. '_No thoughts on this Natsuki, you have to keep your head straight.'_

"Is there something wrong Natsuki?" Setsuna, who was beside her, saw her shaking her head.

Natsuki shook her head. "Nothing, I was just thinking."

"What is it?" Being the best of friends Natsuki and Setsuna usually confide with each other. When one has a problem the other one is there to help.

"What do you think of Shizuru?"Whispered Natsuki in a hushed voice. Her question made Setsuna's face bore another frown.

"Do you like her or something Natsuki?" Setsuna answered with another question levelling Natsuki's almost inaudible voice. Getting no response from the other, she told her what happened earlier.

-

_Setsuna was walking towards the infirmary to fetch Konoka for breakfast. Upon arrival she instantly saw a tawny haired nurse talking to Konoka. At first, she wasn't really paying attention to the two as she approached them but as soon as she caught a glimpse of the blush that came up her best friend's cheek as the light brown haired woman said something to the brown haired one. Her eyebrows scrunched together and her lips formed a frown._

"_Ehem," Setsuna faked a cough._

"_Oh, Secchan, you're here!" Konoka faced her best friend and tackled her in a hug. Setsuna glanced at the other girl._

"_By the way, Secchan this is Shizuru, Shizuru this is Secchan," the brown haired woman introduced as she detatched herself from the soldier._

_Shizuru held out a hand. "Pleasure to meet you Secchan," voice all flirty._

_Setsuna took it. "It's Setsuna, Shizuru-san," her eyes meeting the latter._

"_Setsuna-san it is," Shizuru said knowing the look that Setsuna gave her. 'I guess these two have something working out between them.'_

_-_

"So basically, you don't like her," Natsuki started. "And judging from your story, Setsuna, I have a question."

"What?"

"Do you like Konoka in _that_ way?" Setsuna blushed answering Natsuki's curiosity.

"Hey, I don't care if you like Viola, you can have her all you want." Setsuna tried to change the topic.

"Hey what're you saying?" Natsuki defended.

"Isn't that why you're asking me what I thought of her?" Now, Natsuki's silence answered the question.

"I have nothing against her Natsuki, I think she's a pretty good person despite her... flirtatious personality," Setsuna spoke once more in a more serious tone. "If you do plan to go after her, please see to it that she won't flirt with Konoka again." Now this made Natsuki smirk.

"So you do like her."

-----

"It was nice to know you Shizuru and as much as we want to get to know you better, we probably need to go back to our duties," Mai said mindful of the time. "We still need to go to the barracks." One by one the others started to stand up.

"I understand, we do have responsibilities to do," Shizuru said as she too stood up. "It was nice meeting all of you," she bowed.

"See you later guys," Nao waved a hand before leaving.

"We're leaving," Haruka announced as Yukino bowed towards them before leaving.

"Goodbye everyone, I still need to tour Shizuru around the base," Konoka said. "See you later Secchan." Konoka then approached the said girl and kissed her on the cheek.

Setsuna blushed.

Natsuki smirked.

Mikoto burped.

Mai smiled.

Shizuru 'Ara'd.

-----

After breakfast they Natsuki, Mai, Mikoto and Setsuna headed towards the barracks for training. They needed to get supplies for the bomb throwing lesson for the day. They were assigned to teach the platoon assigned to Natsuki.

"Shizuru's pretty nice don't you think," Mai spoke up planning to start a conversation while observing Natsuki's reaction. They were gathering up the needed amount of bombs for the training. The said person who was busy looking over the types suddenly lightened up obviously caught by Mai's statement.

"Yeah, I think she's nice too, and very beautiful," Mikoto who stacked the picked bombs into place suddenly added bringing more into the topic. Now this spiked up even Setsuna's attention who was helping Mikoto organize the stack.

"I agree, so what do you think Natsuki?" Obviously Setsuna caught up with Mai's intention of squeezing out information from Natsuki.

Natsuki obviously blushed.

'_Suspicions confirmed.'_ Mai thought grinning.

"W-well, she's nice," said Natsuki obviously caught unaware by the question.

'_Well this is a first, Natsuki's stuttering!'_ Well if Mai's grin couldn't be even more mischievous this did the trick.

"Don't you think she's hot too?" now Mai was pulling the strings.

"She's cute," was all Natsuki could say.

"Come on, it's totally obvious that she's more than that, I mean, that's all you can say?" Setsuna butted in.

"Okay okay, she's hot," this time Natsuki gained more confidence. "Hey! I thought you didn't like her!" Natsuki accused Setsuna realizing what the latter said.

"I said I have nothing against her, besides you're stalling from the topic," Setsuna defended herself.

"Natsuki," Mikoto surprisingly joined in the conversation getting the trio's attention.

"You like Shizuru, don't you?" asked Mikoto.

"Well –" before Natsuki could speak, Mikoto cut her.

"It's just a yes or no, Natsuki," Mikoto seemed serious this time.

"Yes," Natsuki said after a moment somewhat threatened by Mikoto's tone. " Somehow, yes."

"Then I think that resolves the issue," Mikoto said finally returning to her happy-go-lucky self. "Right Mai?"

Mai smiled at Mikoto. "Right."

Natsuki looked at Setsuna who was smirking at her. "What do –" she was again cut off but Mai who placed the last box of bombs in the stack.

"Let's go, the soldiers are waiting."

-----

"So, this is the main building," Konoka said as they walked through the halls of the said building. "This is where all the paper works are done."

Shizuru listened in tentatively as Konoka spoke and pointed to the various structures and buildings that they passed. Her mind was drifting off to the blue haired soldier she met earlier.

_-_

"_Nice to meet you, and as Konoka-chan said, my name is Shizuru Viola," she introduced herself._

"_Hi I'm Mai," the orange haired soldier waved._

"_I'm Mikoto," the black haired girl beside Mai said._

"_And I'm Nao," being the nearest to Shizuru she extended out a hand which the nurse took._

"_It's a pleasure to meet you," Shizuru said._

"_As you already know, I'm Yukino," said the dark brown haired woman who was on the other side of the table. "And this is Haruka." The blonde snorted._

_Shizuru then looked at the blue haired soldier who was sitting the farthest from her. Apparently the said soldier was too preoccupied staring at her to notice that everyone was expecting her to introduce herself to the new comer. A quick eye contact and a raise of a brow from Shizuru, Natsuki was brought back to reality._

"_Oh!" Said a now blushing girl. "I'm Natsuki."_

'_Ara, she's cute.'_

-

There really weren't many places in the base since it's the training grounds too. The buildings and infrastructures were just about 20 percent of the whole area. The rest were just plain land for training.

"And lastly, the barracks," Konoka said as they reached many one floored house-like infrastructures that were lined up. "This is where the artillery is kept." They walked in between the barracks passing each barrack that held signs that told the people what was inside it.

'_I wonder if she's here.'_ Shizuru looked around seeing soldiers passing by. She usually wasn't this aggravated to see someone every moment of the day. Heck, she didn't even bother to know the people she flirted with. She usually flirts with them then leaves them without a care. Well, except for those whom she become friends with.

"Shizuru!" A soldier shouted from a distance. He had short black hair and was currently walking towards the nurses.

"Itai!!!!" A shout was head from the distance. They turned their attention towards the noise and saw Mai, Mikoto, Natsuki and Setsuna. One of them, namely Natsuki, was on the ground clutching her foot a couple of boxes scattered around her. The other three were still carrying their load and was frantically asking if the former girl was alright. They quickly went towards the four.

-----

And that's the second chapter. Reviews are appreciated .

-127

A short Omake:

Natsuki clutching her foot in pain: Shizuru!! Shizuru!! My Foot!! My Foot!!

Shizuru running towards Natsuki in slow motion: Dooonn'tt woorryy mmyy Naaatsssuuukkii Iii wiiiillll tttaaakkke cccaaarrree oooofff yyooouu.

By the time Shizuru got there Natsuki already fainted from the pain.

Shizuru: Ara...


End file.
